Former St Johnstone defender Richard Foster believes Tommy Wright knew the score when it came to dealing with a demanding player such as himself.
When it comes to psychology, Foster knows what he is talking about as he is in his final-year of a degree in that very subject at the Open University.
That isn’t the only string to his non-football bow, with the 34-year-old Ross County man currently writing his second novel.
That has ensured he has plenty to keep him busy as he observes the coronavirus shutdown along with famous singer-songwriter wife Amy Macdonald.
The time at home has enabled Foster to conclude that he hasn’t always been an easy player to manage.
However, he felt Wright got it, despite an infamous training-ground bust-up last August that led to the then vice-captain’s departure from McDiarmid Park by mutual consent.
Foster told the BBC: “I think it (psychology) is something that transcends probably every workplace but also more specifically I like the idea of the relationship between a coach and a player, between the players themselves and how that works.
“Tommy – and my gaffers now at Ross County – brought me into the squad knowing that I expect training to be at a good standard.
“I expect everyone to work as hard as they can and if they don’t then I call them out on it.
“But they like that aspect of my personality because it’s something I bring to the squad so they allow me to be myself more.
“Sometimes people would go: ‘Oh you lose your temper and shout.’
“Well, yeah, but sitting here just now, I can speak about anything and I won’t get angry. I can say quite eloquently what I’m wanting to say.
“On a football pitch, I don’t have time to hold someone’s hand and be nice to them.
“It’s not to be done now and then afterwards we can deal with it.
“It’s always the same. You always look back and think you could have done things better, or differently, but if you take away that aspect of my personality it probably takes away from me as a player.”
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Foster claimed he got plenty of stick while playing for County against Saints this season, with him coping with it better than his other half did.
“My wife certainly struggles,” he added. “I think she is one of those where you can say what you like about her but as soon as you say something about someone she loves it’s like: ‘Woah.’
“It’s like a red rag to a bull so I think she finds it difficult.”
Maybe it is his love of reading – and now writing – that keeps him calm.
He has used his regular train journeys from his Glasgow home to Dingwall to pen his own story.
“I decided that I would get the train and I had an idea for a book,” he said.
“I thought I may as well just write it down, and it kind of snowballed and I got into it.
“Even if it’s an absolute pile of rubbish, I don’t care.
“I’ve got no illusions of getting it published or anything like that. It was just a hobby that I really enjoyed doing and it was just a little achievement, so much so now that I’m on to another one and I’m looking to develop that.
“My wife’s too afraid to read it in case it’s rubbish and she has to tell me!”
